After years of declining union membership, multiple high-profile workers’ strikes continue around the country.

The Maine Center for Economic Policy hosted a talk in Portland Wednesday about worker empowerment and the importance of labor organizers.

The presentation Wednesday night featured Chris Smalls, who is the founder of the Amazon Labor Union.

He talked about what he went through to put that union together, which was a win for workers back in 2022. He also talked about why these organizations are so important for workers.

This presentation came in the midst of the Mills administration’s negotiations with state union workers.

About a week ago, the state said it’s still hundreds of millions of dollars away from finalizing a new contract with union workers, and the state is hiring a mediator to help work out those negotiations.

Wednesday night, Smalls talked about what can be done at the state level to support unions, as he discussed his experiences negotiating wages and working conditions with a tech giant.

In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 9.2 percent of Maine workers were members of a union, which was more than a 3 percent decrease in membership since 2021.

There’s been a push to unionize at places like Starbucks and Chipotle in Maine, and Maine Medical Center nurses voted for their first union contract a year ago.

In Brunswick, Staples workers are petitioning to become the first unionized Staples store in the country, according to the Times Record.

Source : WGME

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